Find the good in people for a sweeter life

For a few decades now, I have always shared the advice “Find the good” with as many as I could. As a school administrator I had it written large on a board in my office. It was the first thing students and teachers would see every time they visited. It was the first thing I would see every time I walked in. It became the kind of affirmation that one could not ignore.

Things like fault and blame lost their power when I looked over the shoulder of a person who made a poor decision, had done something less than kind, or simply was not prepared for any particular moment. Find the good allowed us all to have a patient foundation for looking at behaviors.

It also reminded me and my visitors to acknowledge the good we saw in others. A simple compliment or thanks did nearly as much as chocolate to brighten someone’s day. Just writing about the topic is buoying me right now.

My suggestion, then, is for us all to write the words “Find the good” across a very visible place in our world, inscribe it at the front of our memory, and apply the simple principle to our lives and find it in even those who rankle us, see the world differently, or have made mistakes of some degree we can tolerate. The despicable, heinous and evil deeds of those far beyond the understanding of social mores aside, finding the good has served me and those I know better than most things.

I find this a help in my life and I hope you will too. Find the good in yourself as well. It is there for you even when you have no chocolate!